Walking a Different Path
by Dingo T. Wilds
Summary: After his loss to Tobias, Ash Ketchum thought he was washed up. All it took was the same man who beat him delivering an invitation to snap him out of it. Ash will walk down a different path to fulfill his dream. Master Tournament fic, with a twist.


Chapter 1: The Invitation

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Disclaimer: Pokémon is the Property of by Satoshi Tajiri

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It was a crisp, cloudless night in Pallet Town as Ash Ketchum laid awake in his bed. The clock read 4:23 AM, but sleep eluded him as he brain seemed to work itself into circles. He stared out his bedroom window, watching the moon as he remembered the devastating loss that he suffered at the hands of possibly the strongest opponent he had ever been up against, As well as the words the man spoke afterwords. As his thoughts about Tobias's actions and words continued, the battle came to mind.

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Flashback  
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" _Latios shake off Pikachu!" Yelled Tobias. He knew that Latios had already sustained a substantial amount of damage from Pikachu's thunderbolts while being on its back._

 _Upon hearing his call, Latios shot up high into the sky like a bullet with Pikachu barely clinging to its back. Once Latios had ascended to a high enough altitude, Latios quickly turned back towards the ground which caused Pikachu to fly off Latios's back._

" _Now Latios finish it with Luster Purge!" Called Tobias. Latios quickly descended, turned back around to face Pikachu and fired a purple beam from its mouth towards the now falling Pikachu._

" _Pikachu, this is our last shot, use Volt Tackle!" Ash yelled. Pikachu, knowing that this was coming, stabilized himself in mid-air and wrapped a shroud of pure electricity around himself, using it to launch himself towards Latios._

 _Pikachu met Latios's powerful Luster Purge halfway which caused a battle for dominance to begin as Pikachu began to run against the powerful beam all the while slowly making its way towards Latios._

 _Once Ash deemed that Pikachu was close enough to Latios the young trainer called out "Pikachu, Iron Tail!"_

 _As Pikachu got closer to Latios, Pikachu's tail began to glow a bright, brilliant white. Once Pikachu was close enough, he flipped himself around to hit Latios in the face, which interrupted the Luster Purge and caused a huge explosion. As a cloud of smoke engulfed the stadium, silence filled the air._

 _Both Ash and Tobias covered their eyes once the smoke reached them. Neither of the two trainers knew what the outcome of the power struggle would be._

 _After about a minute, the smoke began to clear. Once everyone could see the field, they saw that both Latios and Pikachu were down on the ground, both clearly unable to continue as their eyes were squeezed shut from the pain._

 _The referee looked at the scene before him and made his official announcement, "Both Latios and Pikachu are unable to battle, but since Pikachu was Ash Ketchum's last Pokémon and Tobias still has another four ready to battle, Tobias the winner!"_

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Flashback End  
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Ash had taken that loss the hardest out of any of his league conferences, including his first try at the Indigo Plateau. It hadn't been his friends that had helped him out of his funk this time around, nor was it his mother, Gary, or even Professor Oak. It had been a Week since he had returned to Pallet Town that Tobias had reappeared, looking for him specifically.

The man had found him on a hill behind Oak's Laboratory, as he had been mulling over what he was going to do next. He had been sitting there surrounded by his Pokémon when Tobias had approached.

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Flashback  
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Ash watched his Pokémon play or relax on the hillside before him as he continued to think about the semi-finals match with Tobias, ' _Maybe if I used different Pokémon, then I would have been able to beat his Darkrai quicker.'_

 _Ash looked at Snorlax and Charizard, who had returned from Charific Valley when He heard that Ash had lost, 'Maybe if I prepared more, then I would have been able to come up with a strategy to beat his Darkrai.'_

Ash thought to himself as he kept analyzing every aspect of that battle. These thoughts and more kept flowing through Ash's mind. As he continued to go through the battle in his mind, he kept coming to the same conclusion which was simply _"I'm not strong enough."_

 _The area had become quite when he spoke those words, every single one of his Pokémon turning towards him when they heard that. As they tried to comfort him and tried to convince him that it wasn't his fault, a voice cut through the noise being caused by the mass of Pokémon._

 _"_ _On the contrary, Ash Ketchum," The voice said as Ash's head shot up, locking eyes with the speaker, "No one outside of any of the Elite Fours have ever beaten Darkrai, let alone Latios."_

 _"_ _Tobias…" Ash said as the man walked forward, evaluating each and every one of the Pokémon around them._

 _"_ _Impressive, are all of these yours?" when Ash nodded, Tobias smiled, "You have a good variety. From what everyone says, I'm the first person to force you to call on some of your older and more powerful Pokémon like Sceptile and Heracross. Can I ask why I'm the only one you've done that for?"_

Ash sat there, thinking over his answer as Tobias watched. When Ash spoke, it was in a low tone, but Tobias could hear it. "I got desperate when I found out I was going against you. Most of your Team was unknown and some of my Sinnoh team didn't have the strength or experience to fight legendary Pokémon, or those of similar power level. I chose the team I used based off of experience and advantage against Legendary Pokémon, specifically Darkrai for some of them. The truth is, e _very time I have made it somewhat far in any league I have participated in, there was always somebody else that would end up beating me. Ritchie, Harrison, Tyson, and you, Tobias. I couldn't even make it to the finals in any of them so what is going to stop that from happening again?"_

Tobias watched as Ash continued, letting the teenager get shift some of the weight off of his shoulders and lighten his burden, a burden " _I already know about Unova and sure I could go get some new Pokémon, make new friends and participate in the league there, but what happens when I meet somebody that I can't beat again? It would all just be a waste of time and I would usually be the last person to think that. The thing is, I can't keep acting like I'm the best trainer in the world because I'm not. I want to be the best, but I don't really know how to do it. I need to get stronger so I don't have to feel this kind of pain again. I need to get stronger for myself, and even more importantly, my Pokémon"_

 _"_ _Take a break."_

 _Those three words hit Ash hard, causing him looked up and stare at Tobias, "What?"_

 _"_ _Take a break from the leagues for a year or two. Focus on expanding and training your team," Tobias looked around and grinned, "You said something about going to Unova? Go there, travel around, catch new Pokemon and make new friends, but don't worry about the league. When you're done there, go travel the regions you've already been through. Research other regions to travel to. Just take a break from the leagues and focus on your team."_

 _Upon seeing Ash's confusion, Tobias sighed, "Look Ash, you have a lot of potential. Latios and Darkrai are not the only Legendary Pokemon I have had contact with, they are just the two that came with me. I knew who you really were before we battled. You come across legendary Pokemon as often as I do, but you let them stay where they are. I know of at least two that would have come with you if you asked."_

 _"_ _Why are you really here Tobias. I know it's not to give me a pep talk." Ash said as he stood up. This man knew of his adventures with the legends of their world, so Ash wasn't going to beat around the bush._

 _Tobias on the other hand, was please at the change in attitude Ash was displaying, and decided to cut straight to the point, "Charles Goodshow has decided to set up a tournament, a tournament meant to crown the Champion of Champions. Every trainer that will be invited are ones of notoriety and prestige. Winners of the leagues, Champions, Elites are just some of those being invited. Others are known celebrities and professionals, such as the stronger gym leaders and the Frontier Brains. And others are known heroes. I am not the only one that knows of your achievements Ash, I just asked to be the one to give you your invitation to the Master_ _'_ _s Tournament."_

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Flashback End  
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Ash continued to ponder this information. The Masters Tournament was in three years' time, and while he could push himself to win a league in that time, he could also use that time to push all of his Pokemon to the level needed to compete. He already had the invitation, the only way for it to be revoked was to commit and be charged with a felony. Tobias had stated that Ash was one of the three people that have so far been invited that Tobias wanted to Battle, the only one that Ash knew was Cynthia Shitori. The other was apparently Tobias's childhood hero who had disappeared from the limelight and lived in the wilderness with his Pokemon.

Ash knew he couldn't sleep, he needed to do something. Getting out of bed, he got dressed as Pikachu looked at him blearily, "Pika?"

Ash looked down at Pikachu and over at the clock, which showed five minutes till 5:00. Professor Oak would be getting up soon to feed the Pokemon, "Come on Pikachu, we're heading over to the lab. I need to talk to Professor Oak.

Pikachu merely nodded and crawled on to Ash's should where he hung lazily, dozing as Ash left the house. As Ash started walking towards the lab, he only had a single thought, 'Professor Oak has never steered me wrong before…"

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Author's Note: I honestly blame the plot bunnies and their diabolical ways for the new stories I'm posting.


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